Taint
by DW Yoru Okami
Summary: Click. Click. Silent and barren this world is…Dead. Red on white and prints in the snow as he moves. He won’t become the debris, because it’s pulling him. Always...Kiba...Always Forward...


Title: Taint

Rating: K+

Series: Wolf's Rain, anime-based

Summary: Click. Click. Silent and barren this world is…Dead. Red on white and prints in the snow as he moves. He won't become the debris, because it's pulling him. Always…Kiba…Always Forward

Idea set by prelude to the anime. Drabble-ish. Stream of consciousness.

* * *

_Click, Click, Click._

Claws on pavement.

A whoosh of the wind.

A gentle storm, white, pure, and innocent.

_Click, Click, Click. _

Tainted by red. White snow, white fur, is caked crimson. Just like the earth it blankets. It is a frozen wasteland, gorgeous, but trying to hide death.

Tainted.

_Click, Click, Click._

Claws echo on pavement, water drips as the snow melts away. There is warmth, but always that cold.

Emotions with no love. It is the air of this place, putrid with decay. It can not be hidden.

_Click, Click, Click._

Here, it is no different from…from anywhere else. This entire world, no matter where, is one thing.

It is Death, horrible and cruel…

_Click, Click, Click._

Yet despite the never ending bleakness, claws continue and puddles form on pavement. Blood drips to form red pools beneath paws which move forward.

That is the only thing one can do. Move and move forever, even when fading. Fading into nothing. There are gunshots and growls and barks which ring though the air, but still he walks on. No one cares, no one notices as white and red pass by.

_Click, Click, shooo._

What?

Claws no longer scrape against pavement nor crunch on snow. Grass is soft beneath tired pads, so little of it, yet somehow enough. Enough to rest on.

_Shooo, shooo…_

A silence and a sigh. A thump as a tired body hits the soft ground.

Peace?

No, this is a far cry from heaven. Though calm, this place beneath the tree still smells of death. The ever present odor of decay. Perhaps here is where it ends. No longer having to breathe in the horrendous scent of this world. It may end here, because to continue there needs to be movement, not stillness.

Neither silence nor eyes falling closed in green grass covered in white and red. Not to fade in a tainted place.

Drip by drip crimson flows and life fades. It falls from fur as the snow melted before. The End? There will be no pain, no suffering, no more. There with be nothing. Maybe, a chance to relax at last, permanently.

The solution is so simple. Drift away into the blackness and never open tired eyes again.

Voices interrupt his deliberation.

Mumbles..Dog?

Mumbles..Dead?

Wait…dead…

There is shifting to regain sense and a sigh to bring thoughts together.

Yes, death would be rest; no longer having to battle against the so many things against him. But…death would mean becoming part of the destroyed.

Become the reek that taints the earth as red taints his white?

No…No…**NO!**

This world is death, he knows, but one must continue. Must move. He shifts again.

The mumbles grow and than the smell of Another overcomes the decay. Another like himself, one who has not fallen. Something touches the tainted fur which is his own and the decision is made instantly.

_Drip, drip. _

Blood flows again, taints white fur and green grass as it flows from his maw. This time though, it is not his own.

The world is sickly and dying, it's obvious by its scent, but one needs to move forward. Move forward so not to be consumed by the hate and the despair and the sorrow.

Not to be swallowed by…

Death.

His decision? He will do the deed, not become part of it.

His golden eyes open and man dies.

Kiba Continues...

* * *

Didn't get it. It's okay. Simply, I'm trying to convey what might go through a tired, starving, and dying Kiba's mind as he enters the town which contains Cheza and his pack. Wolves are so tuned to their hearing and sense of smell, thus I tried to make it present in the story, The sounds of his arrival and the smell of the dying world and another wolf(Tsume). 

Suggestions, criticism? Press the little button, you know you want to.

Yoru


End file.
